Kentucky News Now – July 8th 2015

GAY MARRIAGE-COUNTY CLERKS

Top Ky. Democrat wants special session for marriage licenses

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — One of Kentucky's top Democratic leaders is asking for a special session of the state legislature after some county clerks of court stopped issuing marriage licenses in response to the U.S. Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage.

But it's unclear what House Speaker Greg Stumbo wants the legislature to do. Stumbo said Tuesday he is drafting legislation to help address the issues some of the state's county clerks are having. But he did not say what that was, and a spokesman for his office declined to elaborate.

The legislature adjourned for the year in April. Only the governor can call them back in session.

Republican state Senate President Robert Stivers does not want a special session. He said it would be better for Beshear to deal with the issue through executive order until the legislature reconvenes in January.

CAPSIZED BOAT-KENTUCKY

2 more bodies found in river 3 days after boat capsized

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A girl's body has been pulled from the Ohio River, and authorities are trying to determine whether it's that of a child who went missing when a boat capsized.

Louisville police spokeswoman Alicia Smiley said police were called about 6 p.m. Tuesday after a towboat operator spotted the body. That was about six hours after the body of an adult female was found upstream.

Neither body has been identified.

Nine people were aboard the pontoon boat when it capsized Saturday night after it slammed into a barge. Five people didn't make it out of the water, including a man whose body was pulled from the river that night and a teenager who died at the scene.

TEACHER AWARDS

2 Kentucky teachers win prestigious awards

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Two Kentucky teachers are being recognized with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

Louisville Male High School science teacher Andrew Kemp and East Oldham Middle School math teacher Robyn Morris were among 108 winners around the country.

The award is given annually to K-12 science and mathematics teachers all over the U.S.

Kemp has been a science teacher for more than 30 years. He is a co-author of seven science education journal articles, as well as a middle school science textbook.

Morris has taught middle school math and social studies for 20 years. In her class, Morris concentrates on the workshop model, where students have a mini-lesson, group work time and reflection time.

Winners receive a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation.

INTERSTATE REPAIRS

I-64 reduced to single lane in Rowan, Carter counties

MOREHEAD, Ky. (AP) — Repairs are getting started in eastern Kentucky on Interstate 64, where Transportation Cabinet officials say travel is being reduced to one lane in each direction.

Workers are building a median crossover to divert traffic away from the work zone, which stretches from mile marker 150 to around mile marker 148.

Next week, westbound traffic will be diverted onto the eastbound side, where traffic will travel in two directions until November.

Concrete barriers will separate each direction of traffic while two-way travel is in place, and the speed limit will be reduced to 55 miles per hour with a double-fine zone enforced.

Eastbound and westbound travel will be restricted to 14-foot lanes until November.

The project also includes tree trimming, drainage improvement and new blacktop along six miles in Rowan County.

TROOPER-RESCUE

Trooper rescues woman from floodwaters in eastern Kentucky

MANCHESTER, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky State Police trooper in eastern Kentucky is being heralded for rescuing a woman from floodwaters.

State police at London say Trooper Jarrod Smith was called to the scene in Clay County and found the woman inside the vehicle approximately 40 feet off the road in water up to its headlights.

The woman was yelling for help and unable to get out of the vehicle.

Smith, assisted by Clay County Deputy Sheriff Jeremy Garrison, tied a rope around himself and waded out into the water where he got the woman out of the vehicle and back to the road.

Police said neither Smith nor the woman was injured in the incident last Friday.

Smith is a Clay County native and a six-year veteran of state police.

TRANSPORTATION CABINET-RAISES

Hundreds of Kentucky state engineers get sizable raises

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — About 550 engineers in the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet have received raises averaging 20 percent in a plan to curb high turnover and costly contracts for private engineers.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that the pay increase took effect June 16 and will cost about $7.8 million a year.

The salary increase follows an order from Kentucky's 2014 General Assembly for the state to make the Transportation Cabinet salaries more competitive with similar jobs in surrounding states and private businesses.

Cabinet spokesman Chuck Wolfe says the money is expected to come from savings in personal-service contracts used to hire outside engineers.

Transportation Secretary Mike Hancock says among the 11 categories of engineers who received pay raises, the departure rate in 2014 was 33 percent, compared to 22 percent throughout state government.